There is one thing I see over and over again when I am asked to evaluate a channel on YouTube. This YouTube mistake is SO easy to fix, yet even people who consider themselves SEO experts miss it. And they are missing out on a ton of high-quality backlinks for their website.

What is the YouTube Mistake?

What is it? Simple. If you are going to put a link in your description, put the http:// in front.

That’s it. Try it. You will see that without the http:// (or https:// if that is what you use) in the front, the website address is not clickable. With it, it is.

This means two things. First, without the http:// the person reading your description has to copy-and-paste the URL (website address) to use it. With the http://, they can just click. A lot of people will not bother with the copy-and-paste, so you are missing out on visitors by not having it there.

Make it a Backlink

And secondly, without the http://, the website address is not a backlink. It is just part of the text of the description. Once you add the http:// or https://, it becomes a backlink, something that Google can recognise.

Backlinks to your website are an important tool in helping your website to be found on Google. By looking at the other words in your video description, and in the spoken words on the video itself (if you have any), Google has a better idea of what your website is about. IF you have a backlink to it from the description.

And, Google likes what are known as high-authority backlinks – that is, links from a site that Google knows and trusts. Hey – Google owns YouTube, so they must like and trust it, right?

Without that backlink, you are missing out on an important ranking tool for your website.

Just Do It.

It takes very little more time to add the http:// to the front of your website address. Nike got it right – Just Do It. It’s free, easy to do, and can be done right NOW for immediate effect.